In a large-scale crackdown between June and August 2009, the Greek authorities arrested hundreds of migrants across the country, evicting them from run-down dwellings in Athens, bulldozing a makeshift camp in Patras, and detaining new arrivals on the islands. Many are unaccompanied children. Photo essay by Moises Saman.

India is an emerging global superpower, but far too many women and girls continue to face severe barriers while trying to access life-saving healthcare. Tens of thousands of Indian women needlessly die every year because of pregnancy, childbirth, and unsafe abortions. Families accept these deaths as destiny or fate, unaware most maternal deaths can be prevented with access to appropriate healthcare.

On September 10 and 11, the riots in Uganda's capital, Kampala, began when police blocked a delegation, including the cultural king of Buganda, known as the kabaka, from visiting Kayunga district. The visit was opposed by leaders of the Banyala ethnic group who reject the kabaka’s authority. The kabaka's supporters took to the streets to protest, and violence broke out soon afterwards. The government admits that at least 27 people were killed. Human Rights Watch research indicates that at least 13 of those died in situations where soldiers used lethal force when the circumstances did not warrant it.

After the Burmese military government’s brutal crackdown on Buddhist monks and other peaceful protestors in September 2007, the constant refrain was, “What happened to the monks?”. Many monks were arrested, threatened, beaten, and imprisoned. It is a sad and disturbing story, but one that exemplifies the harsh rule of Burma’s military government as it clings to power through violence, fear, and repression. The monks play a pivotal role as social mediators, as an important social safety net for Burmese people as poverty has grown under military rule, and as a key barometer of basic freedoms in Burmese society ahead of scheduled elections in 2010.

On May 6, 2009, for the first time in the post-World War II era, a European state ordered its coast guard and naval vessels to interdict and forcibly return boat migrants on the high seas without doing any screening whatsoever to determine whether any passengers needed protection or were particularly vulnerable. The interdicting state was Italy; the receiving state was Libya. Italian authorities towed migrant boats from international waters without even a cursory screening to see whether some might be refugees or whether others might be sick or injured, pregnant women, unaccompanied children, or victims of trafficking.

Every year, hundreds of thousands of people in India develop severe, chronic pain due to cancer, HIV/ AIDS, and a variety of other health conditions. Although pain treatment medications-and broader palliative care services-are effective, safe, and relatively inexpensive, only a small fraction of those suffering severe pain has access to them.

In June and July 2009, the Cambodian government forcibly relocated HIV-affected families living in Borei Keila, a housing development in Phnom Penh, to substandard housing at Tuol Sambo, a remote site 25 kilometers from the city. The families were resettled into crude, green metal sheds that are baking hot in the daytime and lack running water and adequate sanitation.

On July 5, 2009, thousands of demonstrators gathered around the Tegucigalpa airport to greet ousted President Manuel Zelaya. Army troops blocked the runway, preventing Zelaya from landing. After demonstrators started to take down a fence surrounding the airport, soldiers opened fire. At least one teenage boy was killed, and more than 10 people are reported to have been injured. The de facto government claims the army is not responsible for the killing. But evidence obtained by Human Rights Watch suggests that Honduran soldiers may have used excessive force, shooting live ammunition at unarmed demonstrators.